


merry & happy

by ambulanceu



Series: it's the most wonderful time of the year [2]
Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: M/M, tinder au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 14:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13125597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambulanceu/pseuds/ambulanceu
Summary: Both Daniel and Jihoon have horrible friends. Jihoon surprisingly doesn't judge Daniel for sleeping with stuffed toys.





	merry & happy

 

**realdefdanik**

hey are you reaching?

 

**jijiji529**

i’m afraid i’ll be a little late! :(

 

**jijiji529**

are you reaching soon?

 

**realdefdanik**

yeah, i’m only one stop away.

 

**jijiji529**

oh no

 

**jijiji529**

i’m sorry!!!!!!! :c

 

**realdefdanik**

don’t worry. take your time!

 

**realdefdanik**

i’ll get the tickets first hehe.

 

**jijiji529**

i’ll let you know when i reach!!

 

Daniel slips his phone into the pocket of his coat, letting out a frosted breath amidst the cold. The trees are already barren, a view Daniel felt like he hasn’t had the privilege of enjoying in a long time—much like having the company of another.

 

It has only been two years since Daniel moved up from Busan to become a preschool teacher full time in Seoul, yet it feels like an eternity has passed since then. 

 

The first few months were spent making friends with his neighbours while he slowly unpacked things out of the boxes he had brought up with him. First was definitely his clothes, then came along the worn but well kept frames—some on his desk, two of them flanking the television on his console, and a few others hung up on the walls.

There were the colleagues too, those who helped him to settle down, the same ones who made attempts at correcting him the few times he slipped back into his dialect. His children delight in that, hearing the same word pronounced with different intonations. The other teachers laugh at the wonder on their faces each time Daniel is asked to repeat what he said so they could garble out the same words, and Daniel never minds entertaining.

 

It has only been two years since Daniel had moved up from Busan, yet it was only three weeks before that his coworkers noticed that he goes straight home after ending work each day.

 

_Are you not lonely?_ Jaehwan had nudged, looking as if he was interested in going out on a date with Daniel. Alas, after further pressing, Daniel found out that Jaehwan had a whole list of friends who were looking for someone and that he was definitely not into Daniel, a _no offence_ tacked on soon after his declaration.

Daniel had assured him that he didn’t feel offended, assured the crowd around him that he was definitely fine with this routine—“ _I had built it up myself, after all_ ”—yet they seemed to have been bewitched by Jaehwan, even more so when Ong Seongwoo came into the picture. That man had a way with words and he knew it. Daniel had witnessed it first-hand when he had seen one too many housewives give in and let their child go on the little excursions they plan from time to time despite their initial reluctance with safety issues and all. 

 

Eventually, Daniel had given up all protests, and Seongwoo managed to convince Jaehwan that setting up a Tinder profile for Daniel would be the best solution to the issue, the two of them extensively discussing Daniel’s details right in front of him.

 

“His name is Park Jihoon and you have a date with him on the 22nd.”

“It is _unbecoming_ of a preschool teacher to be out on tinder looking for dates like that,” Daniel had said when Seongwoo handed him his phone with the app installed and logged in. His phone instantly buzzed with notifications of the conversation he apparently had with Jihoon that he had no idea of and to be honest, Daniel isn’t even sure he wants to know what Jaehwan and Seongwoo had said to the poor boy in their quest to get him to go on a date with Daniel. 

“He’s 22 so he’s very legal.” Seongwoo nods.

“We aren’t sure what your tastes are like, but this Jihoon guy seemed pretty popular.” From where he was standing right beside Jaehwan, Seongwoo nodded again, seemingly playing the devil’s advocate when Daniel knows he was probably the mastermind behind this more so than Jaehwan was.

They gave Daniel’s shoulder a few pats, like that’s going to offset any damage Daniel might make with his poor flirting game. There is a reason why he had actively avoided dating platforms like Tinder. The internet can only put up a facade for so long. Eventually they’re going to meet and the other person is going to find out that Daniel still trips over himself every other day and jams to _Celebrations_ when the passenger’s seat in front is empty.

“We believe in you,” they chorus. Daniel tries to put on his most reassuring smile.

 

“I’ll try.”

  
  


From there on, it was very much like throwing someone into the sea and forcing them to learn how to swim by themselves.

 

Or in Daniel’s case, pulling a fish out of water hoping it would learn how to breathe on land.

 

He exaggerates, but his heart does flutter like a high schooler in love every time his phone buzzes with a notification from Tinder.

 

As it turns out, Jihoon is pretty easy to talk to. 

 

Daniel had breathed in deep and told himself he was going to be _brave_ one day, scrolling all the way up to the start of their conversation before slowly taking his time to read what they had conversed about before. To his surprise Jaehwan and Seongwoo had painted Daniel out to be quite the civilized human—as he _rightfully is_ , so much that Daniel had felt bad for doubting his friends for a few moments (read: a long while), nevermind the fact that they told Jihoon Daniel likes to sleep with his stuffed toys surrounding him. 

He’s definitely not embarrassed, and if anything, Jihoon even found it endearing. In fact, Seongwoo and Jaehwan had even used a decent picture of him as a profile picture, one he presumes they sneakily took while he was reading over his countless teaching plans, glasses perched low on the bridge of his nose and a pen resting behind his ear. He ought to take them out for a meal if this ever works out, he reasons.

  
  


A sudden tap on his shoulder jolts him out of his thoughts, causing him to jump. Someone behind him laughs, and Daniel immediately turns around. He’s greeted by a face he has only seen on his phone screen, mostly in a small circle that is Jihoon’s profile picture. 

Jihoon seems a little winded. _He must’ve ran here_ , Daniel thinks.

“Already breathless at the sight of me?” He wishes he hadn’t the moment it leaves his mouth, because he has learnt that not everybody has the ability to put up with his occasional greasy smiles and cheesy pick up lines. He’s only meeting Jihoon for the first time, _god_.

Fortunately, Jihoon doesn’t seem to think too much about it, his small pants developing into short laughs as he continues trying to catch his breath. “Hello to you too,” he manages.

“Hey.” They stay there for a few moments, smiling at each other in a way that anyone walking past who actually bothered looking would’ve thought of them as silly.

_The movie’s starting!_ a child shouts, and the moment is broken when both of them turn their heads away to laugh, feeling a little overcome by the newness of a situation like this.

“Shall we make our way in?”

 

“After you.”

  
  


The movie went well, Daniel would say. They had picked one based on similar interests, sneaking in a few comments to each other from time to time as they watched. The agitated _shh!s_ only made them giggle as they reached into their shared bucket of popcorn.

 

“How’s your thesis going?”

 

Jihoon groans, shaking his head exaggeratedly as if he were showing his vehemence. Daniel simply tilts his head in amusement. “Can we not talk about it? I came out here to get a break from it.”

 

Jihoon had been the victim of a similar predicament, he had told Daniel. His friends insisted that he was always studying and after weeks of persuasion, they managed to get him to open up a Tinder account.

 

 

“So, _my name is Park Jihoon, but you can call me tonight_ , huh? Was that their idea as well?” The comfortable silence they had been walking in broke as Jihoon spluttered, clearly embarrassed. Daniel couldn’t help the few snickers that left him, taking slight joy in watching the younger male try harder than usual to formulate a response.

Jihoon manages to collect himself a moment later. “I thought we agreed to let that go!”

“We did,” Daniel nods, still laughing. _I just said it to get a rise out of you_  hangs heavily in the air while Jihoon fakes an offended huff and Daniel suddenly has this urge to pinch Jihoon’s cheeks.

He does none of it, of course. It has definitely been too long since Daniel has seeked out the company of someone other than his friends—or his cat, for that matter—and he doesn’t want to ruin any possibilities there might be for a _next time_. Jihoon is great company, after all.

  
  


Dinner is a simple affair as they discuss more interests, occasionally throwing in stories of what their friends have been up to recently. Jihoon is acquainted with Jaehwan and Seongwoo because, well, they’re the only close friends he has here and that doesn’t seem like it’s going to change anytime soon. Daniel learns that Jihoon’s best friend is a dance major who came from Busan just like him, and suggests meeting him one day before he realizes he might be getting a little too ahead of himself.

“It’s fine, you said you dance too, right?” 

 

Jihoon is so nice, Daniel thinks he must be unreal.

 

 

They reach the train station soon after, Jihoon having to rush home to finish up other assignments despite it being the holidays. The whirl of the trains and hustling of the people make themselves known, winter breeze playing a soft symphony with fallen leaves rustling in accompaniment somewhere outside as they wait for their trains.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be up for this but I figured it wouldn’t hurt asking—can I kiss you goodnight?”

The train station is bustling with so much white noise that Jihoon almost asks Daniel to repeat what he had said. And he does ponder over that idea, wondering how it’d be like to see blush rise on Daniel’s cheeks before he decides against it. Daniel is balancing on the balls of his feet, rocking back and forth slightly in part nerves, part hope. Uncurling his fingers from the fabric of his coat from where his hands were buried deeply into the pockets, he tries to will himself to still, putting on his best smile. 

He starts to wonder if he’s overstepped a boundary when Jihoon doesn’t answer—there must be a list of things _not_ to do on the first Tinder date with someone out there, Daniel wishes he had searched it up. 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to verbally reject me, I mean-“ and he’s promptly cut off by a pair of chapped lips pressed against his own squarely, bumping noses with Jihoon given the angle he had tilted his head at. 

Having previously gone on the tip of his toes, Jihoon returns his heels back to the floor, the corners of his lips tugged up by a shy smile. The tips of his ears are dusted pink, and Daniel hopes that it isn’t because of the cold. 

“I,” Daniel starts, only to realize he doesn’t know what to continue with. Jihoon is peering up at him as if he wants him to do _something_ , so Daniel thinks _fuck it_ , and leans down to kiss Jihoon with a hand on his nape. 

They don’t get to kiss for long because someone bumps into them and Daniel has half a mind to open his eyes to glare at the offender, not doing so only because Jihoon is trying to cajole him with his lips. 

Daniel is brought back into reality when the train system booms _the train for line 2 is leaving right now_ , eyes widening with a start. Jihoon’s laugh comes out in bursts of breath against his lips, warm much like the soup they had earlier.

 

“Go, I’ll text you later.”

 

Daniel runs after smacking his lips against Jihoon’s obnoxiously, waving at him even after the train doors close. 

  
  


Seongwoo and Jaehwan are so going to have a field day interrogating him later.

 

//

 

**realdefdanik**

let’s do that again?

 

**jijiji529**

yeah, definitely :)

**Author's Note:**

> if you've arrived here, thank you for reading this!
> 
>  
> 
> do leave comments and/or kudos (♡˙︶˙♡)
> 
>  
> 
> merry christmas (´｡• ω •｡`) ♡


End file.
